Civic hospitals in Mumbai set to get better tech and equipment

With the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) set to make health-care sector a priority in this year’s budget, civic-run periphery and tertiary care hospitals will soon be able to compete with elite private hospitals on medical equipment, services and technology.

The civic body will allocate a major part of its upcoming budget (likely to be presented in the first week of February) towards technological advancements, services and human resources.

Health department officials said projects like Aapli Chikitsa, Biomedical Equipment Management System (BEMS) and 800 additional tertiary care beds will be the highlight of the services this year. Idzes Kundan, additional municipal commissioner (health), Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), refused to divulge details of the number of equipment and amount allotted for the civic hospitals. However, she confirmed that the BMC has prepared a list of 36 necessary medical equipment for 186 dispensaries to ensure basic treatment at primary level.

“Ensuring that the equipment remain functional and well maintained will be the responsibility of BEMS — a web portal that will store real-time functionality data of all the equipment. The resident doctors will also have access to the portal so that any malfunctioning can be immediately reported and resolved,” Kundan said.

The officials also met top functionaries of all the charitable hospitals in the city, as well as the charity commissioner to work on the standard operating procedures (SOP) on transfer of emergency patients from BMC hospitals to charitable hospitals.